what is it like to live in minnesota, especially golden valley and how expensive is it to relocate?
I am thinking of relocating to minnesota from connecticut and wanted to know what is the cost of living in minnesota? What is fun to do there? What is the weather like? Is it racially diverse? How different is it to live in minnesota than connecticut? Any other info you can give to help me decide.
One Response
corazondiablo
15 Dec 2009
I moved to Minnesota from NY (Long Island) about 2 years ago. I moved for a job, so I had an income source in place. I didn’t have a relocation package, so I had to arrange for transportaion (a 10ft truck was about $2000 and motels/gas/misc was about another $800 or so) and finding a new place all on my own. The cost of living in the Twin Cities area is much lower than NY, although will vary for you depending on what your situation is now, but Conneticut is probably as costly as Long Island. I found an apartment online and paid $785/mo for a 2 bedroom apartment in Richfield (closer to Minneapolis than Golden Valley) I now pay $680 (1 bdrm) + $100 parking for 2 ppl for a great place in Minneapolis (loring park, awesome neighborhood).
There’s more to do here than you would think… I got a lot of weird looks when I said I was moving to Minnesota, but especially in the cities, it is diverse and there are plenty of cultural opportunities… so not like "Fargo"! Not everyone is blond, not everyone is Swedish. It was an adjustment the first holiday season though… it’s not that people are mean or obnoxious about me not being a devout Christian or anything, but there is much less religious diversity than in NY (but I expected that). I was surprised to see so many great restaurants… thai, middle eastern, ethiopian, mexican, etc. There are so many lakes, parks, etc. People really enjoy the outdoors here.
The weather… well, it’s colder sometimes than CT that’s for sure, but you do adjust, just remember to layer and if you are going to rent, make sure heat is included! It’s not as scary as you’d think. The summers also surprised me, it can get pretty hot, and then there are the tornados (they really don’t hit in the metro area, though) but i see people out and about in all sorts of weather.
I like it here, I can finally afford to do what I want, and I actually had an opportunity to move back to the east coast, but passed it up because I like it here so much. Compared to what I was used to on Long Island, it’s easy living. I live in a neighborhood that actually reminds me of NYC (east village), I see all sorts of people around, and I think that’s what makes an area "alive"
Golden Valley is a suburb for sure, I don’t know much about it, but I can tell you that the further away you you get from the Cities, the more "cookie cutter" things get…
hope this helped!